Justice Center gasoline thief makes plea deal

ELYRIA — A Lorain man caught stealing gas from cars in the Lorain County Justice Cen­ter parking lot has been barred from going back to the justice center — unless he’s charged with another crime.

Jared Price, 29, also was banned from two Elyria gas stations as part of a plea bar­gain Wednesday that resolved three unrelated cases, includ­ing the justice center gas theft case, said Elyria City Prosecutor Jay Grunda.

Price pleaded guilty to theft and criminal tres­passing for the March incident in which deputies caught him with a garden hose in his mouth and the other end of the hose in the gas tank of a Jeep in the justice center’s back parking lot.

Price told deputies that his girlfriend had given him per­mission to take the gas from her vehicle, but when deputies ran the plates and contacted the court employee who owned it, she said she didn’t know Price. Neither did a sec­ond court worker whose car Price also siphoned gas out of into a leaky red gas can.

Elyria Municipal Court Judge Lisa Locke Graves placed Price on good behavior for three years, fined him $250 and ordered him to jail for two days.

Price also pleaded no con­test to criminal simulation for passing bad checks from a friend’s business at Westside Marathon in February, Grunda said. In addition to being barred from the station, Price was sentenced to two years of good behavior, ordered to pay a $150 fine and made $557 in restitution to the gas station.

Price must also attend drug treatment to help him get con­trol of his crack cocaine habit, Grunda said.

A second defendant, Stephanie Stewart, is still fac­ing a forgery charge in that case.

Finally, Grunda said, Price pleaded a robbery charge down to theft for grabbing two $50 bills out of a cash register at the Shell gas station on Bell Avenue, shaking off the clerk who grabbed his hand and fleeing the scene.

Again, Price was banned from the gas station. He was also ordered to repay the $100 he stole, pay $200 in fines and must serve 30 days in jail. Price must also perform 100 hours of community service, attend an anti-theft class and will be on good behavior for three years.

In addition to the month or so Price will serve in the county jail, Locke Graves also suspended more than a year’s worth of jail time that she could impose if he gets in trouble with the law again in the next three years.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

Woman indicted on three charges for allegedly shooting boyfriend

ELYRIA — A Lorain woman has been indicted for allegedly shooting her boyfriend and then stealing his car. Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dave Muhek said Tina Dagostino “shot (her boyfriend) and drove off while he lay there bleeding” on Feb. 27.

Police have said Dagostino, 44, and Steven Augustus were having an argument before the shooting. Muhek said that Dagostino had locked Augustus out of the bedroom in the Robinwood Avenue home in Sheffield Lake they shared at the time.

Police recovered a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun at the scene.

Dagostino was arrested a few hours after the shooting as she was driving along the Ohio Turnpike.

She is charged with felonious assault, theft and domestic vio­lence.

Man indicted for alleged rape of girl

ELYRIA — An Elyria man has been indicted for allegedly sex­ually assaulting a 5-year-old girl between July and March. Roy Voorhies, 36, groomed the victim, whom he knew, so he could force himself on her, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dave Muhek said.

Voorhies, who is facing rape and gross sexual imposition charges, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday. He is being held in the county jail on a $1 million bond and could get life in prison if convicted.

2 teens arrested after fight at school

ELYRIA — Two teenagers were arrested after a fight Thursday at Education Alterna­tives on Lake Avenue.

Officers were called at 4:30 p.m. Thursday for a report of a fight. Employees told officers that two students had gotten into a fight while playing cards.

After the two were separated, the 14-year-old “would not calm down and began to act crazily,” the report said. He then attacked a teacher, school offi­cials told police.

When officers arrived, the teen was still in the room yelling, but he complied with an officer’s order to put his hands on the wall.

As an officer was walking him out of the building, he began yelling at officers and became irate, the report said.

Another student began yelling at a police officer. Offi­cers asked him to stay back, but the second student “began coming toward” officers in an attempt to prevent them from putting the first teenager in a police car. That student, a 15-year-old, also was arrested.

While officers were talking to witnesses, the 14-year-old began kicking the window of the cruiser and shattered it.

The teen also threatened to kill the teacher he had attacked.

The 14-year-old was charged with two counts of vandalism, assault, disorderly conduct and aggravated men­acing. He was taken to the detention home.

The 15-year-old was taken to EMH Regional Medical Center after he had what appeared to be a seizure at the police sta­tion. He was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct and was released to his father.

Sowell trial pushed back to Sept. 7

CLEVELAND — The trial of a Cleveland man charged with killing 11 women and dumping their remains around his home has been pushed back to Sept. 7. Cuyahoga County Com­mon Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose approved the three-month delay Thursday. He rejected a defense request to delay the trial until January.

The defense team for 50-year-old Anthony Sowell said it needs more time to interview witnesses and hire outside experts. Prosecutors wanted to start the trial as scheduled June 2.

The defense said it’s prepar­ing a renewed effort to move the trial out of Cleveland to make sure there’s an unbiased jury.

Roads going high tech to ease commutes

CLEVELAND — Ohio is going high tech to ease com­muting delays with cameras, speed and traffic volume sen­sors, and message boards.

The Ohio Department of Transportation calls it the Intelligent Transportation Sys­tem. It will be paid for with federal stimulus funds and will include 19 cameras and 13 electronic message boards.

The $22 million regional sys­tem will debut on Cleveland highways in October. It will be expanded to Lake, Geauga, Summit, Medina, Portage, Stark and Summit counties by late 2011.

Eventually it will be used in the Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown areas.

Candles offer a whiff of White Castle

COLUMBUS — Fans craving merely the aroma of an oniony White Castle hamburger can now indulge themselves with a White Castle-scented candle.

The fast-food chain based in Columbus this week intro­duced candles infused with the smell of its “slyder” burgers in a promotion with Autism Speaks. Proceeds from the sale of the $10 candles will benefit the New York-based charity.

The candles, sold at White Castle restaurants and on the company’s website, resemble a packaged White Castle burger.

The wax is encased in a ceramic holder that looks like a slyder’s cardboard sleeve.

No charges in corpse parked at school

CANTON — A prosecutor said no charges will be filed against a school janitor and part-time funeral home driver who left a bagged body in a parked van outside a school.

Prosecutor Ty Hauritz in Canton said Wednesday the action by the janitor at GlenOak High School lacked criminal intent.

The van driver was sched­uled to take the body last month from a hospital to a funeral home but was afraid of running late at his school job.

He parked the van and body outside the school for 4½ hours.

The funeral home has fired the driver. The Plain Local school district won’t discuss any disciplinary action.

$10K reward for corporate fugitive

COLUMBUS — The FBI is now offering a reward of up to $10,000 for help finding a woman who fled after being convicted in a $1.9 billion cor­porate fraud case.

Sixty-one-year-old Rebecca Parrett has been on the run for more than two years, since she was found guilty on securities fraud, wire fraud and other charges. She was the vice chairman of National Century Financial Enterprises, a health care financing company in suburban Columbus that failed amid a fraud scheme prosecu­tors compared to Enron and Worldcom.

The FBI believes Parrett is in Mexico. Special Agent Harry Trombitas said the bureau hopes the reward money will nudge Mexican authorities to search further for her.

Parrett was sentenced to 25 years in prison after she disap­peared.

Officer was behind would-be robber

COLUMBUS — Authorities said a woman tried to rob a bank with a note and then attempted to eat it once she saw a uni­formed officer in line behind her.

FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas said the woman wearing sunglasses handed the teller the note at a Columbus Chase bank branch Wednesday morning. Trombitas said in a statement that the off-duty officer wasn’t aware of what was going on, but when the woman noticed him, she grabbed the note and fled.

Outside, the officer arrested the 40-year-old Columbus woman, Lois Harvey. Trom­bitas said she tried to swallow the note as she was nabbed, then coughed it up onto the sidewalk.

Harvey remained jailed Thursday after a judge set bond at $250,085. Court records do not list her attor­ney.

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